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Lawyer, teacher, athlete and preacher –
Tom Finn (pictured) was all these and more; a lover of sport and a man of great faith.
He was also a “great Stannies man”, a former student and later (1993-98) president of St Stanislaus’ College, Bathurst.
In fact, he was pursuing two of his passions when he died.
He was on tour in Britain as chaplain of the St Stanislaus College five nations rugby tour when he suffered a heart attack while crossing a
football field at Downside College in Bristol, England – as he walked from the First XV match to the Second XV match.
The headmaster of St Stannies’, Mr John Edwards, said anyone who knew Fr Tom would realise
he had died in a manner he would probably have chosen for himself – “with the boys he loved at a rugby game of which he was a staunch supporter, and on fields beside the Benedictine Abbey”.
It came only a few
days after he had “realised a lifetime wish of saying Mass in the Chapel of St Vincent de Paul in Paris with the Stannies’ boys and staff”, Mr Edwards said.
“Fr Finn described presiding over the service as
one of his life’s great honours,” he said.
Rev Hugh Murray CM, whose bond of friendship with Fr Tom was forged in their seminary days, writes: “Thomas Finn, born on July 8, 1928, was the eldest of four
children born to Thomas Finn and Irene Baker, who were store-keepers in Canowindra, NSW. His father was descended from Irish migrants who had arrived at Portland, Victoria, in 1834.
“Thomas received his
grade school education from the Black Josephite Sisters in Canowindra, then went to Bathurst to undertake secondary studies at St Stannies’ – where he was a champion sprinter, rugby player and all-round sportsman.
“He seems to have had little doubt about throwing in his lot with the Vincentians, who had taught him and his father, and began his studies for priesthood at the Vincentian Seminary in Sydney in 1947.
“He was ordained a priest in July 1954.
“Tom completed his degrees in science and education while teaching in Bathurst, then embarked on a satisfying career teaching chemistry, in particular, in both
Bathurst and Bendigo.
“As he came to the end of direct teaching of science, he had the opportunity of further studies.
“In every generation of the Finns from 1834 there had been lawyers. Tom could not
escape the urge to follow and set out to gain a degree in canon law at Toronto in Canada.
“On his return, he taught in seminaries in Wagga and Adelaide.
“He forsook the mysteries of inorganic
chemistry for the mysteries of canon law, especially as it related to marriage.
“Thomas Finn loved the challenge of the dissolution of marriages nearly as much as he relished the opportunity of celebrating
marriages. Marriage, particularly in its sacramental aspect, was almost an obsession.
“His confrères, listening to his homilies, would be ready to wager about the time and manner Tom would use to introduce
the matter. Fr Tom spent a great amount of time with an organisation called Marriage Encounter.
“From this, and for this, Thomas Finn became a much-loved person who was unable to understand how anybody could
escape the male-female thrall.
“Thomas was gifted in science and law. He yielded to others when it came to expressing himself adequately in practically all else.
“But his eyes would light up and he
would wax lyrical when it came to sports generally and athletics in particular.
“Part of his ability was in his capacity to be single-minded in any task that presented itself. He had a goal in view, and the
view itself was often narrow-minded. It was part of his undoubted charm, yet it caused him to stumble through human niceties in a sometimes clumsy way,
“This single-mindedness extended to his God, whom he
treated as a lover of law and also as a good sport.
“He left the subtleties of metaphysical discussion to egg-heads who were pedantic about language and pathetic about form.
“This might well have
seemed ignorance except that he had grown to know and love his God in his own way. He loved human beings for God’s sake.
“In the end, the teacher, the preacher, the lawyer wandered the earth with his
Stannies’ boys.
“He was on a pilgrimage, maybe a junket, although he would never have admitted it. He was with people he loved, in a world he owned, at a game that he thought was played in Heaven.
“At
his death on January 11, Fr Tom was director of the Marriage Tribunal of the Bathurst Diocese.
“His standing in Bathurst and in the wider community was recognised in what many people said was one of the
biggest funerals the city has seen.
“Rev Alan Finn CM (Fr Tom’s brother) concelebrated Mass for Fr Tom Finn CM at the Cathedral of SS Michael and John in Bathurst with the Most Rev Patrick Dougherty, Bishop
of Bathurst, the Most Rev William Brennan, Bishop of Wagga Wagga, the Rev Maurice Sullivan CM, Provincial of the Vincentian Fathers; and priests from the Bathurst Diocese and elsewhere. In all, nearly 70 priests
attended the Mass.
“Fr Tom and his raucous, infectious laughter will be greatly missed by all who worked with him.”
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